The State of Matrimony

The judiciary committee public hearing on the Same-Sex Marriage bill is scheduled for Wednesday. I don't plan to be there, or to express my opinion at the five days of public hearings. I don't have any particular objection to gay marriage above and beyond my objections to heterosexual marriage. I guess I'm slightly more favorably disposed, but I don't really think that the State should be in the business of licensing sexual congress.

As a matter of fact, I think the state should get out of the marriage business entirely. I would prefer to see the civil union expanded to include cohabiting couples of any flavor regardless of their sexual orientation or practices. Why shouldn't maiden aunts living together be afforded the same conveniences and protections as other couples?

If two guys are living together, should the state investigate to make sure that they are really having sex with each other before allowing them to have a civil union? Should the civil union be annulled if it is never consummated? The whole thing is absurd.

If state got out of the marriage business, churches could do what they liked because the marrige ceremony would have no legal basis or significance whatsoever. Kind of like baptism, confirmation, and communion, all of which seem to be working just fine without the endorsement of the State of Vermont.

The whole issue is especially absurd since a third of Vermonters are avowed unbelievers, and I'm willing to bet that another third just go along with the hocus-pocus because they like the music, the odor of sanctity, and the sense of community that the church provides. (In case you think I'm being snide, I'm in that camp.) I think atheism, hypocrisy, and belief are all equally legitimate and defensible orientations - and that the State should keep out of the discussion, just as it should keep its nose out of the conjugal beds of consenting adults.

So sure, if we have to have marriage, then let's let pretty much anybody get married. But I'd vote to phase it out, personally.